Deep breath.
I’m talking to me. Lol.
We all need some deep breaths now, right?
We don’t know when we’re going back to work, and we don’t know what a post-Covid 19 massage world is going to look like.
Let’s work on what we can manage.
Here’s what we can manage: Our actions right now.
I have two actions to work on managing right now.
The first is: OMG, DON’T HIT THE PANIC BUTTON!
Sorry didn’t mean to yell. Let me try again…don’t hit the panic button.
Don’t Hit the Panic Button Management Strategy
Here’s how we’re NOT going to hit the panic button. We’re going to accept reality as it is—as I talked about in my Covid-19 Massage Therapist Guide: Thrive to Survive.
It’s going to be a struggle the time you can’t work, period. But you’ll figure that out.
If you’re in the US, you can find government financial help here.
And if you take this time to plan on how to hit the ground running when you can go back to work, you’re going to have steady income coming in from the get-go.
The second action management strategy is related to Don’t Hit the Panic Button management strategy. It’s: Do what you know works first.
Do What You Know Works First Management Strategy
Recently I read an article in Massage Magazine where the author said it’s time to pivot your massage practice and start accepting insurance clients if you don’t already.
Here are my issues with pivoting to go after insurance clients.
One, it takes time to find insurance clients.
Two, it takes time to get paid by insurance companies.
Three, the insurance market for massage has shrunk to practically nothing except workers’ compensation, at least where I’m at in PA.
Four, to get paid there is more work required with insurance companies than private practice clients, like submitting SOAP notes, billing and sometimes follow-up to collect.
Five, it’s not Covid-19 proof. You’re still going to be out of work during a virus pandemic whether you’re working on insurance clients or working on non-insurance clients.
Six, you’ll starve to death trying to build or rebuild your practice if you spend all your time trying to find insurance clients or you’ll need to count on a service to send some your way.
Do This Before You Go After Insurance Clients
If you want to add insurance clients as part of a mid-range business plan, great, but first get your practice back to normal (or if you’re just starting out, get your practice rolling) by doing something that has been tested for thousands of years and provides more security than insurance clients who can vanish whenever policies and regulations change.
Drum roll, please.
Actually, I think you already know what the answer is.
It’s you.
Invest and activate you.
Get your butt out there and get your hands on people.
Well, not this very second. Work a plan from home during the Covid-19 shutdown.
But once you’re allowed to work again, fly out the door and out hustle the competition…what’s left of the competition.
When you do that you’ll find the recession-proof clients, people who can afford massage when the economy is bad or people who will prioritize massage as an indispensable part of their lives and will always spend money on massage no matter their financial situation.
They are your insurance when tragedy strikes.
No, they are not Covid-19 proof either. Nothing is.
But they’re yours.
They are loyal to you because they like you and they don’t want somebody else.
You earned their respect and business.
I’ll have 60% of my normal weekly clients lined up and ready to go when I return to work. In fact, I am lining them up for May which may or may not happen for us in PA. If it doesn’t happen, I’ll move them to June.
These clients are the people who will come to me until the day I die or quit massage.
And I’m not special.
Every massage therapist who is all in with massage has at least one uber-loyal client.
So, to me the question is not: Do I need to pivot and take insurance clients?
The question is: Do I do enough to get uber-loyal clients?
Do I make follow-up calls?
Do I create a therapeutic atmosphere?
Do I leave my baggage at the door?
Do I coordinate care with other health providers?
Do I do the best massage I can do every time even if I’m in a bad mood?
That’s what’s going to build and grow a practice. And that’s never going to change.
And by the way, doing what it takes to get uber-loyal clients nets all the other clients, too—the monthly ones, the yearly ones, the birthday ones, the random times ones—all the ones you need to fill in around the weekly ones.
So, don’t panic.
This time I was talking to you. Lol.
Don’t chase all the new things that you could do to save or build your business.
First, create a plan now and work the plan from home.
This is my plan.
Then when you can work, hit the streets hard and go after clients.
If the thing that has worked for thousands of years—connecting and winning people (clients/referral sources) over—doesn’t work, then pivot or call it a day because I don’t know how anyone survives in that kind of world.
